CDW Holdings (BXE.SI) : Another big round of share buy backs.

CDW Holdings (BXE.SI) : Another big round of share buy backs.

Massive share buy back exercise ongoing after Q3 results. so far hit 1.33m+ shares liao. Ongoing in a big way today as well. It is still trading around 97% net cash value @ 0.255 price, though price has gone up roughly 10% from 22c levels a couple weeks ago.

I vaguely remembered that they did do some big buybacks in 2012. So went back and had another look. Indeed they purchased 19,229,000 out of the authorized 47,748,000 shares from Oct 2012 right till the beginning of Jan 2013. This was later given out mostly as employee stock options to management. Some getting as much as 2m+ shares. The share price was pushed up 50% during this exercise. Treasury shares got boosted to 44,632,000

This time round, the authorized number is 23,745,700(which is about the same as last time, factoring the 2:1 share consolidation. So far as of closing last friday, company has bought back 1,332,300 only. Treasury shares stand at 15,552,302. It is very likely CDW will buy back another 7-8million shares to top up the treasury.

I was waiting for the usual insider buys to go with the share buybacks but looking at 2012's buybacks exercise, it seems management will not be doing any buying, unlike what Avi-tech's boss did. 

In 2012, CDW recorded a jump in revenue and profits in their 4Q report right after their massive buy back exercise. In this 3rd quarterly report management has hinted they were in testing phase for volume production of their new product with a new client. They have also cleared out a factory in China for future OEM production. It seems with this buy back exercise, this testing may have been successful and company could be announcing a big deal in next year's 4Q, commencing mass production at the cleared up factory. Of course this is speculation at this point.

In any case, being at net cash value, I have finally decided to start accumulating despite a slightly improving market from oil price recovery, as I feel should 4Q result be bad, downside is limited whilst upside could be substantial if history repeats.

[author has shares in CDW Holdings.]

PNE Industries (BDA.SI) - Full Year 2016 Results Update

PNE Industries (BDA.SI) - Full Year 2016 Results Update

Wow the year is almost over. PNE Industries finally released their full year results for 2016. Most of it has come in as expected. The stock has run up from 60c lows to hot above 80c these past few months.

Revenue has remained somewhat flat YoY at 74m. There was a sizeable contribution of 6.7m from the sale of PNE Print which has boosted profits. Excluding this gain, profit for the year would be $9.5m. That's pretty good. It also seems PNE has and will continue to benefit from the depreciation of the ringgit and appreciation of US dollar. Given that Ringgit has recently fallen even more recently and will likely continue to fall as funds move out of emerging markets, we should expect PNE to benefit from forex gains and lower costs of production from PNE's Malaysian factories.

Dividend of 3 cents was announced, including the 5c interim paid out already, 8c from a total of 19.3c EPS comes to about a 40% payout ratio. This is pretty ok for OPMI but somehow doesn't feel as generous as before. Perhaps management is planning to utilize the spare cash for something else.

One thing that sticks out is that PNE has initially announced that USD 7.366m(~SGD 9.94m using a rate of 1.35 as when this report was made) was received as payment for PNE Print with another 1m RMB(~SGD 200k) withheld by Chinese tax authorities. If that is the case, both figures of SGD6.7m as the "gain on disposal" and SGD8.748m as "proceeds from disposal of subsidiary",  do not match up with the SGD 9.94m that was supposed to come into the bank as announced on 18 April 2016. Even taking a lousy rate of 1.2x USD/SGD, at least 9.2m proceeds should have appeared on the books.  This shortfall of a million SGD is either a mistake from the accounting department or some other reason.

In any case, NAV is now 96c and the balance sheet is looking fantastic with no debt and net cash of 60% of market cap, so hopefully there will be some volume to sell into over the next few days and for the stock price to hit NAV.

Recession is coming to town.

Recession is coming to town.

It sure looks like a recession is coming to our shores.

First our GDP has disappointed.
Singapore Q3 GDP grows 0.6% year-on-year, below expectations

And yesterday exports continue to contract in a big fashion Month on month and year on year.
Singapore October exports contract 12% in worse than expected slump

It's no joke, when recession hits, many people will suffer pretty badly financially. If the recent crash and defaults in Oil n Gas companies in Singapore have shown us anything, it is that many investors invest in companies they don't understand or in financial products they know next to nothing about.

Whilst most people are getting concerned, value investors will be rejoicing. There are many things to buy during a recession, but most importantly there has to be cash in the bank. Get ready, shopping season will be starting soon.

Captii (AWV.SI) - 3Q Results 2016 Update

Captii (AWV.SI) - 3Q Results 2016 Update

As the year end earnings season comes around, I will be updating results from companies I am keeping track of with a quick and short summary. Let's start off this season with Captii (AWV.SI)

To be fair, it has been a challenging year for Captii. But this is to be expected given that the global economy has not been doing that well and Singapore has been hit quite badly by the collapse of the OnG and Shipping industries.

The good news is Captii still remains pretty profitable, making 1.25c of EPS this quarter and 5.05c for 9m of this year. This means the dividend payout next quarter of 2.5c is more than safely in the bag, providing a dividend yield of 5.38% @ $0.465 price today. Though net cash has decreased due to capex this quarter, it still remains at a high 75% of market cap and Captii remains debt free.

Of note is that trade receivables has increased to over 9m from 6m last quarter. Whilst it is a recent high, this was also observed in 2014 and it is likely Captii will get a lumpy payment in the next quarter or so.

Azeus Holdings (BBW.SI) - Profit Warning

Azeus Holdings has been on my radar for a while. Decided to do a short post on this under the radar stock.

[ PROFIT GUIDANCE released 10 Oct 2016 :
Following a preliminary review of its unaudited financial results, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Azeus Systems Holdings Ltd. (the “Company”, together with its subsidiaries, the “Group”) wishes to advise its shareholders that the Group is expected to report a net loss for the financial period ended 30 September 2016 (“1H FY2017”) and financial year ended 31 March 2017 (“FY2017”).

The loss is mainly attributable to:
- Higher expenditure relating to the Group’s continued commitment in building up our capacity, as well as aggressive and material investments made in the Group’s Products business to boost its growth.

- Lower revenues mainly due to fewer IT services projects secured in the current and previous financial years, in light of the lower number of IT services tenders available for bidding compared to previous years.

Further details of the Group’s financial performance will be disclosed when the Company announces its unaudited consolidated financial results for the Group for 1H FY2017 on or before 14 November 2016.

Shareholders and investors are advised to exercise caution when dealing in the shares of the Company. Persons who are in doubt as to the action they should take should consult their stockbroker, bank manager, solicitor, accountant or other professional advisers.]

At the moment this IT stock is trading at almost net cash (11.3m+ vs a Mcap of 12m) and with no debt it is a pretty safe investment. Question is at what price will it be cheap, considering gov in Hongkong is changing as China tries to muscle in and there is much uncertainty with policies as well as gov spending on IT going forward...

[author is not vested in this company]

Multi-Chem Limited - Helping Asean stop a bunch of hackers.

Multi-Chem (AWZ.SI) - Helping Asean stop a bunch of hackers

As the market has been more or less trading sideways, there has not been much action on my blog. However this stock has been brought to my attention recently due to their rising amount of net cash. Let's have a look at Multi-Chem, current price $0.52

[Established in 1985 as a small distributor of PCB chemicals and materials, Multi-Chem is now a leading drilling service specialist and a major distributor of specialty chemicals and materials to PCB manufacturer in the region.

In May 2002, we diversified into the business of IT distribution where we focus on best-of-breed internet security, WAN optimisation, network management and video conferencing products from industry leading vendors. Through Multi-Chem’s subsidiaries under the M.Tech umbrella, our IT business has expanded in both product range and geographical coverage since inception and now spans Singapore, Australia, China (including Hong Kong), India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kindom and Vietnam. We started IT training business in Singapore in late second quarter of 2004 to complement the IT distribution business. We are currently authorised to conduct training for Allot, Blue Coat, Check Point, Solarwinds, MobileIron and Nutanix courses.

Business wise, it seems the company is still running its original PCB related business. However that is now only contributing less than 10% of its total revenue in recent years. In AR2015, revenue from PCB segment was 25.621m vs. IT segment of 321.436m. Given this we can see that Multichem has evolved into an IT company, more specifically one that is in the IT security distribution business. How solid is the distribution business? I don't know. How secure is this business? I don't know either. But it does seem that the different software companies are happy to work with MultiChem in distributing their products and follow-up with end users with training and maintenance. This bodes well going forward as IT security will continue to be in demand as Singapore and other nations in ASEAN move towards more technology based economies.

Ok enough about the business, now the valuation, BlueFund Style:
Market cap : 46.85 million
NAV : $0.9827
Price : $0.52 (47% discount to NAV)
Debt : 25.407million
Net cash :  44.574 million (41.34% of MCap)
Dividend yield : 6.37% (based on 0.331 past 2 years, increased from 0.11 before. FY15 EPS was 5.3c)
Daily Volume : What volume?

Valuation looks pretty good at current price which has recently bumped up due to cum dividend. Their historical div payout has been stable and reasonable as well.

Management looks like a nice bunch. Of note, the Executive director is an engineering grad from NUS who is spearheading their expansion into IT security sector in Asia and this has been their main growth engine as PCB related business has stalled. Boss has also done a buy-in at 52cents recently. Shareholdings wise boss, his wife collectively own ~68%, add in a Thai investor who owns ~12% and we have the top 3 shareholders owning close to ~80% of the company. Hence not much free float or daily volume. Trading at such a steep discount to NAV, the likelihood of a privatisation or sale of the company is very much increased.

[author holds shares in this company]

PNE Industries Ltd - PNE Print Disposal Done!

PNE Industries Ltd (BDA.SI) - PNE Print Disposal Done!

It's been a while since I looked at this stock (previous post here). Ever since it peaked on news of a possible takeover by a mysterious indonesian buyer and sale of PNE PCB subsidiary in Malaysia, the former which did not happen and the latter only selling two thirds, nothing much has been happening. Well there was the 4 to 1 consolidation that happened last year, but that's so common on SGX that its like a WHATEVER for the seasoned investor.

So what's so exciting that warrants a post? For starter's the sale of a loss making subsidiary PNE Print in China has just been completed and the cash, the moolah, the kaching has arrived in PNE Industries bank account (the normal one, not the Panama one, *joking*)

Before thinking of the words special bonus dividend, let's have a look at how the valuation looks like now, BlueFund style:

Market cap : 56 million
NAV : $0.85
Price : $0.665 (21% discount to NAV)
Net cash :  37.56 million (67.24% of MCap)
[FEB div subtracted and PNE Print sale added. ]
Dividend yield : 6.02% (based on interim $0.02 and final $0.02. FY15 EPS was 11.4c)
Daily Volume : What volume?
Debt : What debt?

The discount to NAV is now 21% (not including realised 7.6c from this disposal).  On the other hand, everything else seems to be looking up. Company remains debt free with a nice and bigger stash of cash after this disposal. Earnings look pretty good. Dividend yield whilst not awesome, is pretty reasonable and the recent sale guarantees a nice payout from management, as they did payout very quickly previously with the PNE PCB sale.

In these turbulent and difficult times, with the bad global economy that is now even threatening to cause a recession locally, it would seem PNE Industries has held up pretty well and management has been making all the right moves. Unfortunately even during the market dips earlier this year, PNE's volume and price have not moved much, hence accumulation had to be from the sell queue. PNE Industries half yearly results will be out soon this month and will likely show some good earnings and whilst this sale completed in end April might not be reflected in the books yet, hopefully management will be kind enough to announce a special dividend with the interim dividend.

[author holds shares in this company]

Captii - Capturing the alluring value

Captii (AWV.SI)- Capturing the alluring value

Captii is a tiny little micro cap which has been listed since 2004 post tech crash and at the beginning of the now quickly maturing mobile phone era. Current share price is $0.46

The usual background story from SGX
[Captii Limited, an investment holding company, operates in the technology and telecommunications businesses in south east Asia, south Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. It operates through VAS, TECH, OSS, and OHQ segments. The company offers telecommunications, technology, and customized solutions for telecommunications operators, service providers, and enterprises; and research and development, software engineering, system integration, project management, and maintenance and support services for the telecommunications industry. The company also offers global roaming quality and service management solutions; and mobile messaging and signaling, value-added-services, and mobile network operation support systems, solutions, and managed services. In addition, it distributes third party telecommunications products and components, as well as engages in the property investment activities. The company was formerly known as Unified Communications Holdings Limited and changed its name to Captii Limited in May 2014. Captii Limited was founded in 1998 and is based in Singapore. Captii Limited operates as a subsidiary of Worldwide Matrix Sdn Bhd.]

Long story short, Captii makes money from major local telcos in Singapore such as Singtel/Starhub/M1 and Maxis/Digi in Malaysia and is owned by a Chinese Malaysian boss.

Chanced upon it before the recent 10 to 1 consolidation which would translate to a stock price of $0.585 today. At that time, I had only put it on my radar as the dividend yield was low even though other value indicators were pretty good. Since then, the stock has slid to $0.46 and the yearly dividend has been increased to 2.5c.

Let's look at some current valuations in simple BlueFund fashion.
Market cap : 15 million
NAV : $1.01
Price : $0.46 (54% discount to NAV)
Net cash :  13.45 million (91.49% of Market Cap)
Dividend yield : 5.43% (based on 2.5cents, up from 2cent year before)

Historically, they have been consistently turning in profit for quite a few years now. The major shareholder and founder of the company is also still at the helm and doesn't pay himself ridiculously, so that's pretty good for OPMI friendliness and with the increased div now, company is starting to pay out more of their profits. Guess they have no choice, cash is piling up faster than they can distribute. Boss also owns 76.89% of the company which means a possible privatisation could be in the books. Captii could be another takeover target from an overseas tech company as well.

To note, the stock has been trading sideways the past 8 years and in fact has not traded upwards much since its big fall in 2004 from $6 after IPO to below $1 a year later and even as low as 15cents during GFC 2009, so it could be a value trap. But it is now trading at almost cash value and with likely further increases in dividends and yield, this could very well be a BUY in my books pretty soon, once yield goes up a bit more. That is if anyone wants to sell.

[author holds shares in this company]

New Toyo - Have they got their heads on?

Will the increasing use of medical marijuana benefit New Toyo?

New Toyo (N08.SI) - Have they got their heads on?

Past couple months have been pretty boring hence the lack of new posts. However now that earnings season is in, let's have a look New Toyo (current price $0.24)

[Established in 1975, New Toyo International Holdings Ltd ("New Toyo") is a leading regional provider of specialty packaging materials to the tobacco, food & beverage, wine, liquor and cosmetics industries in Asia Pacific.

The Group has two core business divisions. Its Specialty Papers division focuses on the production of laminated foil paper, and coated paper and metalised paper, while the Printed Carton and Labels division offers mainly gravure and lithography or offset printing of packaging materials for cigarettes and fast-moving products. In addition, the Group has a trading business that focuses on tobacco packaging-related materials, as well as a corrugated cartons production operation.]

Business wise, in the past half year, nothing exciting has been happening to this stock. New Toyo still derives most of its income from Tien Wah (a printing company based in Malaysia) via tobacco carton printing contract with British American Tobacco.  Both revenue and earnings have had a dip and been trending down YearOnYear around 10% and share price has also accordingly been on a downtrend. Looking at the latest quarter, revenue seems to have started increasing again with earnings back to 1c+ a quarter.  This is likely due to closing down of operations in Australia and ramping up of production in Vietnam. This is now complete and we are very likely to see nice profitable quarters going ahead.

With annual EPS now at 3.34cents and quarterly EPS 1.03cent, it would be reasonable to expect at least 4c in the coming year. Wouldn't describe management as as prudent bunch or good with their investments, as history has shown with a "toilet paper" fiasco, which is now done and dusted, so we won't go into that. What is good now is that management is still consistent with their dividend payouts and has increased the half yearly 0.6c div to 1c. At current earnings rate this is both sustainable and generous with a total 1.6c for our investing troubles this year. That's a respectable 6.67% div yield soon to be paid out in May, and should interim be increased to 1c as well, we could be looking at 8.33% yield in half a years time.

Let's look at some current valuations in simple BlueFund fashion.
Market cap : 105 million
NAV : $0.386
Price : $0.24 (38% discount to NAV)
Net cash :  51.2 million (48.78% of Market Cap)
Dividend yield : 6.67% (based on 1.6cents, historically >1cent a year.)

NAV is $0.386 which provides a Margin of Safety of 38%.
Though debt is still 27.5 million, this is 5.1million less compared to last year and will likely be paid down more in the coming year. The cash balance of 79million will easily cover that and result in net cash of almost 12cents a share.

In the coming years, things are definitely looking good for New Toyo. This stock will likely be a profitable cash generator and we may even have surprises if NT decides to do something with the valuable Australian industrial land near to Sydney Airport and some lands in Malaysia as well. With the recent announcement of rights issue for Tien Wah, it does sound like something is in the books.

[author holds shares in this company]